"In our opinion, this decision does not announce any new legal principles, nor does it, in substance, deviate from nor change the mandates presently contained in the Criminal Procedure Law regarding the setting of bail," Grady said in a statement.

Rosa issued her decision Jan. 31. The lawsuit was filed Jan. 9 by the NYCLU against Dutchess County Sheriff Butch Anderson. The sheriff’s office operates the jail and Grady represented Anderson.

According to the NYCLU, Rosa’s ruling applies to bail proceedings in Dutchess County, which typically take place in town, city and village courts.

The lawsuit was filed while Kunkeli was in jail on $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond, and it called for his release. He had been arrested Oct. 10 and charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor. He was accused of shoplifting a vacuum cleaner from Target.

The NYCLU said the $5,000 bail was nearly half of Kunkeli’s annual income.

Grady in announcing his decision against an appeal, pointed to examples of Dutchess County's existing efforts to accommodate those who cannot pay bail. He gave the example of what he said are roughly 500 offenders who, at any given time, are supervised under Dutchess County's Pre-Trial Release Program.

These people would have ordinarily been jailed because of an inability to make bail, Grady said. But this program was designed to make certain that defendants aren’t jailed prior to trial solely because they can’t make bail, he said.

Grady noted that his office has been involved with the program since it began.

Kunkeli on the same day the lawsuit was filed pleaded guilty to petit larceny in Town of Poughkeepsie Court and began serving a five-month sentence in Dutchess County Jail. Kunkeli, who had served three months in jail when he was sentenced, was released on Jan. 19.

Grady previously told the Journal that Kunkeli was a poor choice for the NYCLU to enlist for its lawsuit.

According to Grady, Kunkeli was previously convicted of multiple crimes. Also, the incident in Target occurred six weeks after Kunkeli finished serving a one-year sentence in Dutchess County Jail, Grady said.